LLR hosp closes two wards due to nonfunctional ACs

Patients admitted to neurosurgery ward asked to leave

KANPUR: A day after death of five patients admitted in the ICU of LLR hospital allegedly due to failure of air conditioning plant, the hospital management shut down surgery and neurosurgery wards due to the same problem on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.

While surgery ward, which had no patients, was closed due to failure of air conditioning in High Dependency Unit (HDU); the eight-bed neurosurgery ward was shut down and patients admitted there asked to leave as all four air conditioners were not operational. Both wards will remain closed till the problem is rectified.

“Both wards were closed soon after UP director General Health Dr KK Gupta left the campus on late Friday night. The complaint of attendants about the ICU issue hasn’t gone down well with the authorities,” said sources adding: “they fear since patients or attendants could make an issue of non-functional air conditioners hence the wards have been closed.”

Most of the ACs in emergency ward, orthopaedic and surgery unit of the LLR hospital, affiliated with the GSV Medical College, are out of order said the sources. While Upper India Maternity Hospital, one of the biggest wing of the LLR hospital, does not have even ceiling fans in the paediatric ward. Attendants have to buy table fans or use hand-held fans to beat the heat and provide relief to patients. A patient Kunti of Hamirpur, who is admitted in one of the wards at Upper India Maternity hospital, said after the delivery of her child her husband had to purchase a table fan as there was neither an AC nor a ceiling fan.

Similarly, another government hospital Kanshi Ram Trauma Centre situated at Ramadevi has its tale of woes. Of the two dozen ACs installed there only five are working. CMS of the centre Dr SK Pandey said the hospital had all necessary equipments but KESCo has not given an independent transformer. “The existing transformer cannot bear the power load of all the equipments hence we have to use the equipment cautiously,” he said.

However, Government LPS Cardiology Institute has been facing power supply problem for the last three days. According to director of the Institute Dr Vinay Krishna the power supply line was damaged during digging of a road. The hospital gave a refundable loan of Rs 27 lakhs from its emergency fund to Avas Vikas for repairing the power cable but nothing has been done yet.

Meanwhile, executive engineer KESCo RK Singh said, “Power to the Cardiology Institute has been given through another feeder. As soon as Jal Nigam pays the cost then the damaged cable would be replaced. ”